In previous posts I wrote about the distribution of mosquito bed nets to the rural communities of Uganda.  This is one way to help combat the unbelievable statistics that a child dies every 30 seconds of this treatable, preventable disease. And nearly one million people (mainly children in Africa) die each year from malaria, the mosquito-borne parasitic disease.

Preventing the initial bites is critical, as is treating people who already have these parasites in their body.  According to research, “an estimated 10 to 100 parasites per mosquito bite invade the liver where they replicate. About a week after infection, tens of thousands of parasites are released into the bloodstream where they are responsible for malaria’s recurring fevers and life-threatening complications.”  (Full research article)

So the question is once these already frail children are bitten by malaria-carrying mosquitoes, what can be done?  New research has shown success in utilizing preventive antibiotics as a vaccine-like immunity against re-infection.  A study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine describes this antibiotic as a ‘needle-free’ natural vaccine against malaria specifically designed to control malaria in poor communities.

“In this study, the researchers showed that the antibiotics caused a cellular defect in malaria parasites during their passage into the liver of the infected host. This action did not prevent parasite replication in the liver but blocked the malaria parasite’s fatal conversion to the disease causing blood stage. The very late arrest of parasites in the liver allowed the immune system to mount a robust defense against subsequent infections, akin to experimental whole organism vaccine strategies using attenuated parasites.”

This is great progress on a research and trial level.  However, in what year and in what areas will this vaccine be available?  Many adults and a large population of children in Uganda cannot wait for these ground breaking antibiotics.  It is important that we use our resources now to provide education and distribution channels for insecticide-treated nets and existing drugs to the communities that are losing their children at alarming rates.

You can help support the efforts to make resources available to what are best described as ‘resource-poor’ communities such as Uganda.  You can contribute to our life-saving and life-empowering programs here

In the past year I have seen various news outlets make the correlation between our current economic challenges and poor health.  When the price of a fast food meal is a fraction of the cost of the fresh meats and vegetables that go into a healthy meal, it is no wonder that American’s are experiencing spikes in the numbers on the scale, and their health issues.

In Africa, similar choices are being made, at the detriment of the health of their communities.  Recently, journalist Allan Richter accompanied me on a trip with other Just Like My Child supporters to Uganda to learn more about the nutritional issues that impact health and wellness in Africa.  His findings are documented in a recent article In the Belly of Africa.

Richter draws attention to the nutritional issues and what motivates their food choices. Just like in the U.S. “filling stomachs trumps nutritional value.”

While writing his article, Richter met with Josephus Walulya, a veterinarian and farmer who helps train villagers how to take care of and earn money with the chickens or pigs they receive under the Just Like My Child program.  “When a child is hungry the parent will buy bread instead of an egg so the child will feel more full,” says Walulya.

Does this sound familiar?  What will make us full for the least amount of money?  What is more readily available and most convenient?

Richter goes on to explain, “as a result, poor villagers pursue convenience and cost savings over nutritional diversity, evidenced by the widespread reliance different regions of Uganda have on a single food.”

To combat the issue of single-crop production, Sister Ernestine of the Bishop Asili Hospital in rural Uganda teaches patients how to diversify crops and optimize the soil and weather conditions.  Through Just Like My Child Foundation’s and other donations, the hospital is supplied with dietary supplements to help the patients with a more balance diet.

In the U.S. we assume there will always be a variety of food to choose from and that skilled farmers will take care of the production and distribution.  What if you had to be as self-sufficient as the villagers in some of the most impoverished communities of Uganda and produce your own crop diversity?

The staff at Bishop Asili Hospital understands that education is the best form of prevention and health and they are  providing exceptional services, education and programs to Uganda. We are proud to be the main benefactor for these efforts.

To read Allan Richter’s article and see his beautiful photos from his trip, go to In the Belly of Africa

The children of the 600,000-person Ugandan community we serve are ready and waiting for this huge investment in their brain, health, and physical development.

But there’s a catch: The least expensive way we can ship these vitamins to Uganda will cost $15,000. All of our other shipping estimates were for TWICE that amount of money, so we’re certain we’re getting a very fair rate.

It’s hard to overstate how desperately children in Uganda need additional nutrients. In a recent article in the New York Times, Nicholas Kristof writes:

…malnutrition last year may have caused an additional 44 million children to suffer permanent physical or mental impairment.

Yet one of the great Western misconceptions is that severe malnutrition is simply about not getting enough to eat. Often it’s about not getting the right micronutrients — iron, zinc, vitamin A, iodine — and one of the most cost-effective ways outsiders can combat poverty is to fight this “hidden hunger.”

…malnutrition is implicated in one-third to one-half of all child deaths each year; the immediate cause may be diarrhea, but lurking behind it is a deficiency of zinc. view the full article here: http://tinyurl.com/oxv8gl

If you’re looking for a way to make a direct, tangible difference in the life of a child, you can do it right now, IMMEDIATELY. Just by opening your heart, you’ll change the destiny and direction of YOUR life.

If we all pull together, we can do it. We need your help right now. It’s an urgent situation. We need to ship the vitamins from San Diego to Uganda by July and prior to the expiration date on the vitamins.

Even if this economic recession has affected you, please know that the smallest amount will make a huge difference. Please pledge $25, $50, $100. Whatever you can do will make a huge difference and we’ll post our progress ever few days at www.JustLikeMyChild.org.

Sometimes I think that my small gift won’t make a difference. Now I’ve learned FIRST HAND that it’s just not true. YOUR GIFT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE AND THE LIFE OF A CHILD IMMEDIATELY.  Your gift, no matter how modest, can make that difference. Before you move onto the next email or close this window, PLEASE take the step that will change everything!

Thank you for everything you have done to support the Just Like My Child  Foundation.

With warmest wishes,

Vivian Glyck

Founder and Executive Director
Just Like My Child Foundation

P.S. Make a 100% tax-deductible Donation NOW and bring desperately needed nutrition supplements to our children today.

P.P.S. If you would like to donate shipping services, have great shipping contacts, or would like to make a larger gift, please send us a note and I’ll make sure we get in touch with you right away.

Less than $50,000 has drastically reduced maternal deaths for a community of over 30,000 people. (Photo by Vivian Glyck)

My hero, New York Times op-ed writer Nick Kristof, has again, told it like it really is. While traveling in Sierra Leone this week, he stopped at a rural hospital and wrote, among other things,

“One of the most dangerous things an African woman can do is become pregnant.”

When I first arrived at Bishop Asili Hospital in Luwero, Uganda, in May 2006, I couldn’t believe that a pregnant woman could come to this hospital and be turned away in the midst of an emergency obstetrical situation because the hospital just couldn’t treat her. I witnessed with my own eyes the horror in a young mother’s eyes as she knew that this was her death sentence.

It just about bent my brain to think of how serene and pre-meditated my son’s birth by c-section had been — the doting staff let me pick the music in the O.R., made sure the lights wouldn’t glare too directly in my baby’s eyes when he was extracted, and so on. At the end of it all, my newborn son would have died of a collapsed lung if he couldn’t be rushed into neonatal intensie care and administered oxygen and 24-hour care.

I am so joyful to say that in just 2 short years, the hiring of a skilled surgeon, a small clean room, and some key surgical supplies have drastically reduced the incidence of maternal mortality for a community of over 30,000 people. We have still got a long way to go since we need a real, sterile operating and recovery room, blood transfusions, and so much more.

But as Dr. Charles Lwanga, chief and only doctor and surgeon at Bishop Asili says, “We need to think big and start small.” And so we have!

Vivian Glyck, Executive Director, www.JustLikeMyChild.org

Uganda Health Marketing Group delivered moon beads to Bishop Asili today.

Women use moon beads to help count the days of their cycle, starting with the red bead on the first day of their period. There are different colored beads used to represent the different phases of the menstrual cycle. This helps a woman to understand which days she is most likely to conceive during her cycle.

With moon beads a woman gains the knowledge she needs to keep track of her menstrual cycle and the empowerment necessary to either avoid her husband during fertile days or work with her husband to plan a family responsibly.

UHMG brought literature along with the moon beads that will help educate women about how to use the beads most effectively.

Moon beads are a safe and low cost contraception option for women in Uganda.

Save For Health Uganda  is an organization based in Luweero that provides community-based health insurance schemes to more than 5,000 clients. Many of these clients use Bishop Asili as their health care provider. Save For Health has now partnered with Bishop Asili in distribution of over 3,000 mosquito nets that have been donated to the hospital by Just Like My Child Foundation. The mosquito nets will be distributed by Save For Health to members of the insurance schemes for a subsidized cost of 2,500/=UGSH. These mosquito nets will serve as an incentive to those involved in the program to continue to value the health of their households. The money from the sale of those nets will be used by  Bishop Asili to pay for the salaries of much needed additional staff.

Nazibanja Juliet (Save For Health, project Coordinator) and Tessa Davis (Just Like My Child Foundation, Country Director) meet to go over terms of agreement for the new partnership as well as discuss logistics of distribution

Save For Health comes to pick up the mosquito nets from Bishop Asili Hospital

The mosquito nets will be sold at a subsidized rate to eager communities who value health in the coming months

]]> http://justlikemychild.com/blog/health/malaria/mosquito-net-distribution/feed/ 0 http://justlikemychild.com/blog/development/microenterprise/shanti-ugandas-paper-bead-project/ http://justlikemychild.com/blog/development/microenterprise/shanti-ugandas-paper-bead-project/#comments Sun, 22 Feb 2009 19:33:41 +0000 Dena Lewerke http://justlikemychild.com/blog/?p=103 January 22nd, 2009

SHANTI UGANDA is a Vancouver based organization dedicated to helping children, women and communities in Uganda find peace and health. It is their belief that in order to overcome trauma and conflict within a community, we must first allow individuals to heal and uplift their minds, bodies and spirits. Their programs provide the tools needed to find inner peace and well-being, foster conscious birth and manifest health, happiness and community.  All Shanti Uganda projects combine healing, birth education and community development initiatives. Natalie Angell, founder of Shanti Uganda has been here at Bishop Asili for the last few days training a small group of HIV positive women on how to make paper bead necklaces. The women are to gather for five full days to learn the methods involved in cutting and measuring paper, rolling beads, varnishing beads, hanging them to dry and then finally making them into beautiful pieces of jewelry.

Natalie Angell and her counterpart Julius work together to train the women on the bead making process

Thirty women eagerly gather together in this round hut every day to learn and practice what they've been taught

The paper must first be measured and cut properly in order for it to be rolled into a perfect paper bead shape.

The paper is then rolled tightly around a needle. It takes a great deal of patients and practice in order to ensure that the outcome is a quality paper bead. The process is meticulous and challenging.

Natalie and Julius give the women constructive criticism for improved quality and praise to those beads that are well made.

The beads are placed on strings and covered with a clear varnish. Once they have dried they will be strung into lovely pieces of jewelry, which will be purchased from the women by Shanti Uganda

I stopped by the hut to greet the women and to see how things were coming along for Natalie and Julius. The women were all enthusiastically making beads and are all clearly enjoying their newly learned skill!! Each of them is walking a treacherous path in life that most of us cannot relate to. It’s such a joy to see a hint of hope in these women’ s eyes.

http://shantiuganda.blogspot.com

Vivian Glyck, founder of Just Like My Child arrived on October 1st, 2008 along with some of the foundations board members and donors to see how several major projects were moving forward at the Bishop Asili Hospital.

The moment Vivian reached the hospital in Luweero District, which is a several hour drive from the airport in Entebbe, she was getting a first hand experience of how significant Just Like My Child’s efforts are impacting the community in the area. As we pulled into the gates of the hospital we found two women walking towards the vehicle. One of the women was holding her belly, walking strangely and had a strained look on her face. The woman with her explained that she had found this pregnant woman walking down the road. Apparently the woman had gone into labor several hours ago and walked a far distance carrying a suitcase with clothing so that she could deliver her child at Bishop Asili Clinic. Sister Ernestine immediately jumped out of the vehicle to assist the woman in labor. We were told in the morning that she delivered her baby just thirty minutes later. This scenerio is fairly common around here as of late. Just Like My child purchased an ultra sound machine for Bishop Asili last spring. Rumor has spread that the death rate of children born at Bishop Asili has reduced as a result of having the machine as well as having a doctor available. The population of pregnant mothers who insist on coming to here for delivery has shot through the roof. Bishop Asili is able to provide quality services to the community that no government hospital in the area can.

Sister Ernestine Akulu with the ultra sound machine purchased by Just Like My Child Foundation

Dr. Charles of Bishop Asili Hospital gives a pregnant mother with complications an ultra sound Vivian Glyck with a woman who delivered healthy twins with the help of an ultra soundOne of the first major issues for discussion during Vivian’s visit was the Just Like My Child School Building Project. Purchasing the land in Kiwanula to begin building the school had been an ordeal that had spanned over seven months (see school building updates previously blogged). Just Like My child Foundation has developed a remarkably clear methodology for building schools in Uganda. Based on that methodology we gave the community of Kiwanula a deadline of October 1st by which to complete the land deal (negotiations had begun in March, 2008). We were painstakingly clear that if the land was not ready, we would not proceed with the school project in that community. When Vivian arrived in Uganda on that date, the land deal was still not completed, so we made the decision to move forward with the school building project in an alternate community. Hopefully down the road when that community is more organized Just Like My Child Foundation will be able to review a possible partnership with Kiwanula. Since my arrival in July we had been sourcing out communities in the area that could be potential partners with Just Like My Child for school building projects. I had discovered a community that is very close to the Bishop Asili hospital that was in desperate need of a school. This community is called Habitat for Humanity Katikamu. Nearly 2,000 children will be impacted by a school if it’s to be built in this community. The great news is that the land is ready, free and clear. The community is charged up, organized and ready to make bricks.

Katikamu community father and son fetching water

Ben Oliang shows Vivian Glyck the land that the community has procured for a much needed school building in their village.

Community Leader Ben Oliang, Tessa Davis and Vivian Glyck go over plans, budgets and blueprints for a possible school building project in Katikamu

Part of the discussion revolved around the possibility of using interlocking bricks for the construction of the school building. These bricks don’t require as much cement in the building process and are better for the environment because they don’t require any burning of firewood for drying.

Interlocking bricks that are made using a brick making press

Husband and Wife in Katikamu hard at work gathering firewood

These Katikamu children will be beneficiaries of the Just Like My Child school building projectThis is Brian. He is three years old. He was born way up in the northern part of the country. Last spring he witnessed both of his parents being murdered by the Lord’s Resistant Army, which is a group of extremist religious fanatic rebels that the government of Uganda has been battling with for some twenty years. He was discovered by neighbors sitting near his dead parents in a pool of their blood. He was brought to Katikamu because he has distant relatives that live in this area. The Katikamu community works together to take care of Brian. They are giving him as much love and care as possible in hopes that he will forget the haunting images of the tragic events that took his parents from him. Brian will benefit from the school that will be built by Just Like My Child Foundation in the Katikamu community. During Vivian’s visit we spent some time at Bujagali Falls in the eastern part of the country. While there we met up with Annie a representative from Soft Power Health, which is an organization that has had a great deal of success doing work here in Uganda with Malaria prevention. Just Like My Child Foundation is eager to learn from partners on the ground such as Soft Power Health, particularly in the area of malaria prevention with the goal of adopting some to their best practices with the community surrounding Bishop Asili. Annie explained the organizations methodology in regards to mosquito net distribution and malaria prevention education. She explained that Soft Power Health has a small staff of four people. Two of the staff members go out a week or so before distribution to put up posters and advertise to those villages that they will be coming for a free education activity and that they will be charging only 3,000 Ugandan shillings per bed net (about $1.50), which is a great price given that you can’t purchase a bed net in Uganda for less than 13,000 Ugandan shillings. One day of the week is dedicated towards visiting the scheduled communities and educating about malaria using some very creative posters that tell the story of how Malaria is contracted. They also talk about the benefits of a mosquito net and how to use one properly. They break down the costs of hospital fees when contracting Malaria verses the cost of buying a mosquito net. Soft Power Health then gives community members an option to purchase mosquito nets at an extremely low rate. The communities involved in the program are being educated for free and they are given the opportunity to place value on their own health. The money earned from the sale of nets goes towards the purchase of more nets that will later be sold at a lower rate. The organization returns to the community two months after the nets have been purchased and a household survey is conducted to learn whether or not the nets are being used. From what they can see so far close to 100% of the people who have purchased nets are using them correctly in their homes. Bishop Asili has been going about distribution of the mosquito nets donated by Just Like My Child Foundation in a similar way, but still a great deal was gained and best practices learned by the discussion with Soft Power Health.

Vivian Glyck, Annie and Sister Ernestine Akulu are going over Soft Power Health’s Methodology in regards to Malaria prevention education.

Soft Power Health uses these posters written in both English and local language to educate villagers about how Malaria is contracted.

Soft Power Health also educates the community about the use and benefits of a mosquito net in the prevention of malaria. Just Like My Child stake holders visit The Source of the River Nile in eastern UgandaWe went into Kampala to have lunch with the Just Like My Child scholarship recipients in Kampala. They were happy to see all of us and share what’s been going on at school.

Karen Taylor with Nalubombwe Josephine and Nyangoma Rachael

Richard Taylor with Namata Josephine and Nalubombwe Josephine

Vivian Glyck with Nyangoma Rachael

Laura Luxembourge and Richard and Karen Taylor were invited to visit the homes of some of the Just Like My Child Foundation mosquito net beneficiaries deep in the village.

Three out of the four homes they visited had the mosquito nets hanging properly

Villagers were generally pleased with the results of the mosquito nets and claimed that they had noticed a reduction in cases of malaria in the family

This baby sleeps soundly under a mosquito net. His mother will likely save thousands of shillings in hospital fees this year from the simple use of a mosquito net.

During Vivian’s visit their was a terrible accident on the main highway that runs through Luweero town. A public taxi carrying close to 20 passengers was driving too fast and as a result became a mangled mess on the side of Gulu Highway. The ambulance that was purchased by the Just Like My Child Foundation helped many victims from the car accident to reach Bishop Asili Hospital to get care for their injuries. Vivian Glyck and I choose and purchase paper bead necklaces that will be used for fund raising in the United States Vivian Glyck and I decided to go check out Wobulenzi Parents School (see previous blog entry), which is a primary school that Just Like My Child Foundation is considering sending the scholarship recipients to.

The children at Wobulenzi Parent’s School seem so incredibly happy, free, well nourished and eager to learn. The events shown here were just a small sampling of what we were able to accomplish during Vivian’s visit in October. All of the pictures that are shown in this blog entry were photographed by Laura Luxembourge.